Maryknoll Lay Missioners sends forth eight new missioners to serve in Bolivia, Brazil, Kenya, Tanzania and at the U.S.-Mexico border.

As Maryknoll Lay Missioners and friends gathered at Holy Family Church in El Paso, Texas, the language of the liturgy revolved around one simple word: “yes.”

It was present in the prayers, Scripture readings and covenant signing, and explicit in the “yes” given by those standing at the altar. For members of the Class of 2025, the sending Mass and ceremony on Dec. 6, 2025, marked the beginning of new chapters of service across the globe.

“Let us pray for these new missioners as they proclaim their ‘yes’ to God’s call, as they stand to proclaim ‘yes’ to hope and love through service and mission,” said Elvira Ramirez, executive director of Maryknoll Lay Missioners.

She named the blessings this class brings: a family with children, members from Germany and the Netherlands, years of experience gained through other organizations and the testimony of mission at different stages of life.

“The Church is not just a house that we go to,” Bishop Anthony Celino said in his homily. “The Church goes out, to proclaim boldly the Gospel.” Missioners awaken us, he added, to an awareness of God, present already within people.

The sending followed an eight-week Orientation and Formation Program encompassing prayer, community life, practical preparation and study on topics such as Catholic social teaching and Maryknoll’s history and charism. Candidates also served in ministry along the U.S.-Mexico border, where they encountered the realities of migration.

A registered nurse and certified spiritual director from Fraser, Michigan, Dorothy Ritter volunteered at the Detroit Catholic Worker soup kitchen and house of hospitality for two decades. She also participated in short-term mission trips to Appalachia and Kenya and joined peace delegations to the Middle East.

Eight years ago, her husband died after 43 years of marriage. “We were looking forward to retirement and sharing our end-of-life years together,” says Dorothy, who has two grown children and five grandchildren. “I began to prayerfully discern, ‘what now?’ Through the mystery of grace I was led to Maryknoll Lay Missioners.” In Kenya, she hopes to be “a conduit of God’s grace” for others.

Jana Schiemenz, from Chemnitz, Germany, is trained in pediatric nursing, special education and rehabilitation. She has worked with people with disabilities of all ages for 15 years, mostly in Tanzania, where in Mwanza she helped establish the Tunaweza Centre for Youths with Disabilities.

Now a lay missioner, Jana will return to Tanzania. “The way in which Jesus Christ respected the dignity and equality of all people has become an important orientation for me,” she says. “It’s how I want to shape my life and relate to others.”

Like Jana, Susanne Beentjes, originally from Purmerend in the Netherlands, was serving in Tanzania when she felt called to join Maryknoll Lay Missioners. Susanne was commissioned ahead of the sending ceremony so that she could rejoin her spouse and children in Mwanza, where she has served in projects for women with the Society of African Missions.

Susanne, who has a background in global public health, is now working in a new initiative called Work&Shop Creative Center, where young artisans can work and sell their products.

“During mission work, you learn how to handle challenges and be flexible in your approaches,” she says. “I focus on what is possible and give others the confidence that they can do it,” she adds.

Victor Artaiz, of Wallingford, Connecticut, was commissioned to return to Bolivia, where he was already serving.

After a career in international business, Victor had felt called to a different kind of work. Joining Franciscan Mission Service, he spent four years in Cochabamba, where he met Maryknollers while doing prison ministry. 

Victor began working closely with the community of priests, brothers and lay missioners. Victor is nourished by the Eucharist and daily lectio divina, as he serves in “accompanying others living on the periphery of society and sharing the faith, hope and peace of Jesus Christ.”

Joining Victor and the Maryknoll community in Bolivia are spouses Elizabeth Canales Almanza and Ray Almanza, along with their children, Siena and Solomon.

Elizabeth is a Salvadoran American who has worked for 16 years with low-income, first-generation college students. She and Ray raised their children in a simple lifestyle at their home in Colton, California.

Before marriage, Elizabeth had considered joining the Peace Corps. A recent experience rekindled her calling to serve overseas. “My cancer diagnosis and treatment gave us the opportunity to reflect more deeply on our family’s values, purpose, and the way we want to live in the world.”

Elizabeth shares Maryknoll’s approach to mission: “It’s not about helping from a distance, but about walking alongside others,” she says. “Willingness to be transformed by those we accompany” is necessary.

Ray has held various ministry leadership positions, including for the Diocese of San Bernardino. “I’ve taught adult faith formation, youth ministry and marriage preparation, and I’ve contributed to national initiatives like V Encuentro and the Synod on the Family,” says Ray, who is Mexican American. “In my most recent role, I led the young adult outreach team in Maryknoll’s Mission Formation Ministry.”

Working for the Maryknoll Society, Ray also led immersion trips, which affirmed the calling he shares with his wife to serve abroad. “I was especially moved by the churchwomen martyrs of El Salvador, whose lives and deaths are a powerful testimony,” he says. “They didn’t go there to ‘fix’ things; they went to be with people in their suffering. That kind of witness inspires me.”

James Pawlowicz, originally from Bolingbrook, Illinois, has a unique background in animal science, nonprofit management and pastoral accompaniment. “Working in animal control, I entered all kinds of homes and neighborhoods,” he says. Volunteering in parish-based ministry for migrants exposed him to the trauma many have gone through.

James studied in the Twin Cities of Minnesota and most recently lived in Maryland, where he was an active member of St. Margaret of Scotland parish. His next address will be in Brazil: “I want to help others, and I hope to grow spiritually along the way.”

Maria Corazón “Cora” Angeles will serve closer to home, bringing to the U.S.-Mexico border her four decades of expertise as an immigration attorney. “In my work with migrants and families, I have seen much suffering and brokenness,” she says. “In spite of these challenges, they stay committed to their goals with incredible joy and hope.”

Originally from Quezon City in the Philippines, Cora is a graduate of Maryknoll College in Manila. She came to the United States 43 years ago, making her home in Burbank, California. There, her involvement with Handmaids of the Lord, a women’s ministry, nurtured her faith. Participating in Maryknoll immersion trips to Kenya and the Yucatán, Mexico, awakened her desire to witness to Christ’s presence across cultures and borders.

At the sending Mass and ceremony, the candidates signed mission contracts for three and a half years, but the Maryknoll Lay Missioners covenant lasts for life.

As the community was dismissed “to proclaim the Gospel by our lives,” the work of mission had already begun.

Featured image: The Class of 2025, which included international members and a family with two children, undertook an eight-week orientation in El Paso. Texas. After their sending Mass and ceremony, during which they signed three-and-a-half-year covenants, the new missioners were sent to Bolivia, Brazil, Kenya, Tanzania, and the U.S.-Mexico border. From left to right: Victor Artaiz, Jana Schiemenz, Maria Corazón “Cora” Angeles, Susanne Beentjes, Dorothy Ritter, Elizabeth Canales Almanza, Ray Almanza and James Pawlowicz pose along with Siena and Solomon Almanza. (Daniel Lizárraga/U.S.)